1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to sporting equipment and more particularly to a soccer goal which may be erected, taken down and moved with ease.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
The game of soccer has its roots in early Greek and Roman civilizations. The British have been given credit (or blame) for the game as generally played today. It has been said that the game actually developed from warfare between opposing forces.
In any event, few games arouse spectators to carry out war-like behavior as surely as will soccer. Even in recent years, soccer spectators have overrun the playing fields, wreaking havoc on fellow spectators, players and equipment such as the goal assemblies. Even when the game is long over, people with access to the goal assemblies often are aroused to climb the assemblies (for whatever reason). In recent years, several deaths have been attributed to such behavior, when the goal assembly fell forward from the weight of climbers.
Soccer goal assemblies have been fabricated in a number of configurations. The regulation mandated size is about 24 feet between vertical support posts and a cross-bar at a height of 8 feet. One common design is to fix the vertical support posts in the ground. The upper ends of the support posts and the cross-bar are restrained from movement by backstays. To avoid collapse when climbers add their weight to the cross-bar, the vertical support posts require relatively strong, buckle-resistant materials. The Euler formula for the buckling load of such a design is: ##EQU1## wherein P=load at which the column will buckle
E=Young's modulus of the column material PA1 I=second moment of area of the cross-section of the column PA1 L=length of the column
All in mutually consistent units. However, this relatively sturdy design is not portable and the goal remains on-site as an invitation to trespassers who are subject to injury.
In the situation where a goal is portable, for example as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,446, only one-fourth of the force required to buckle the fixed goal is required to tip the goal over; according to the Euler formula: ##EQU2## Accordingly, there is a need for a portable goal, free of fixation to the ground, which will resist collapse or tipping over even if several individuals climb upon it.
The present invention is of a portable, buckle resistant, stabilized soccer goal.